The moment Jonas Valančiūnas left the court with an injured calf muscle in Toronto, everyone who follows the Denver Nuggets began wondering and thinking out loud about possible trade scenarios that could help fill the granitic hole in the middle for a team that had previously seemed destined for a date with Oklahoma City in the Western Conference Finals.
Coming just one game after Nuggets superstar center Nikola Jokic suffered a left knee injury in Miami, the loss of Valančiūnas – the primary and almost singular backup center on the Nuggets active roster – to a right calf strain seemed like it might be a potentially devasting blow to Denver’s chances for a top four seed when playoff time arrived. How could the Nuggets survive without a center for an entire month?
Before Valančiūnas arrived for the 2025-26 season, Denver backed up Jokic with both Aaron Gordon – the starting power forward – and Zeke Nnaji, the former first round draft pick who despite being the sixth highest paid player on the roster, had never come close to living up to the billing. Undersized as a center at 6’10 and only 240 pounds, Nnaji has had the misfortune of replacing Joker for roughly 12 minutes per game for most of his career, rarely getting to share the court with any of Denver’s starters. That’s reflected in his “plus-minus” number of -111 for just this season.
Nnaji is earning almost $8.2 million this season, and is under contract for two more seasons at $7.4 mil per. So naturally, given the salary cap restrictions, Nuggets followers want to include him in any trade the team considers. After having traded most of the team’s future draft picks for the next five years, and being able to offer just a 2031 pick and the $8.2 mil salary that comes with Nnaji, it’s pretty easy to see why there hasn’t been a lot of suitors.
But a strange thing has happened over the past few games since the Nuggets lost both their big men. Nnaji has begun to come on stronger and stronger. He was a major force in the short-handed Nuggets’ amazing wins in Philadelphia and Boston within the last week. He’s actually looked like he could contribute along Denver’s front line even after Jokic and Valančiūnas return.
Nnaji has roughly a dozen games now to show the Nuggets he’s worth keeping.
But that’s not the major focus for the front office right now. Right now it’s about staying afloat for another roughly 12 games until the team’s top two centers are back on the court. So the question is, do these Nuggets, powered by a much-maligned bench for the rest of January at least, really have to make a trade? Is it feasible that Nnaji , rookie forward DaRon Holmes II and a healthy Gordon can man the middle well enough to keep the Nuggets within striking distance for three more weeks?
Given Denver’s bench history, it might qualify as another “Mile High Miracle” if Denver’s still in the top four when Joker and Valančiūnas are both back and productive. Then again, who knows?
Denver has other concerns that could impact trade talks. Forward Peyton Watson, who has shown spurts of a nice offensive game (to go along with high caliber defense) since the injury bug has decided to pick on his team, is in the final year of his contract and could become a free agent. With a payroll that’s already flush up against the NBA’s “second apron” within the leagues’ staggered luxury tax system, the Nuggets do not have room to simply sign a check and hand it to Watson.
Then again, trading Watson, who could be expendable with the emergence of Nnaji and Holmes, (the rookie big who started at center against Atlanta on Friday night and hit a pair of three pointers to start the contest) might be feasible . But what if, maybe instead of trading Nnaji – who has undoubtedly improved his tradability with his recent play – Denver sticks with the 25-year-old former Arizona Wildcat and he shows that he’s ready to play a more prominent role off the bench when the playoff push really kicks in? It might still not be worth the $8 mil salary cap hit for the future, but in Denver, that future is right now.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us .
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Should the Denver Nuggets Hold on to one of Their Best Trade Chips? appeared first on Heavy Sports .